Mario Caria was born in Rome in 1934, where he lived and worked nearly all his life, designing and illustrating covers for thrillers, detective stories and comics. Caria's preferred medium was pencils and tempera on cardboard. His book covers often featured beautiful women menaced by some hideous creature. Caria's covers appeared on comics published in several languages throughout Europe. His best known work was done for Italian publishing house Fratelli Spada, for whom he produced dozens of comic covers for The Phantom, Flash Gordon, Mandrake the Magician, and other titles.

Fratelli Spada was also licensed to reprint Western Publishing's Gold Key Star Trek comics in Europe. In 1972 and 1973, Caria created uniquely distinctive covers for several individual issues and collections of Star Trek comics published in Italy and France. Caria's Kirk and Spock are both tough-as-nails armed adventurers. Spock has stiletto-like ears and exotically curved eyebrows. As was the odd custom in those early days of Star Trek comics, the Enterprise painted by Caria has flames shooting out of the nacelles. Several covers also feature large and menacing adversaries for our well-armed Starfleet heroes. Some of Caria's figures have a slightly cartoonish aspect to them, but his Kirk and Spock clearly mean business.

Star Trek comics readers in the United States may not be familiar with this talented Italian artist, but copies of comics with Caria's Star Trek covers can occasionally be found on eBay. Caria passed away in 2001 and, like most of the first generation of Italian Star Trek comic artists who are now gone, missed enjoying the next-generation work being done for IDW. Here, for your enjoyment, are his Star Trek comic covers (all that I'm aware of, but there could be more) and some of his other artwork. If he were alive today, he would probably be hard at work, since he was a prolific creator of covers for vampire fiction, so popular right now.

He might even have been hired by IDW for a hard-edged Star Trek cover or two.

Star Trek #7 (Italy), Star Trek #8 (Italy)

Star Trek #9 (Italy), Star Trek #10 (Italy)

Star Trek #5 (France), Star Trek Album #1 (France)

Superspada #6 (Italy)

Flash Gordon (left), The Phantom (right)

I Racconti di Dracula

Brief interview with Mario Caria, courtesy of YouTube

No Italian Star Trek artists were harmed during the writing of this article, unless I omitted someone. My apologies if I did. Let me know in the comments, and the oversight will be rectified.